The creature, shaped much like a nautilus, wasn't the only life-form surging out of the darkness.
In the limited light, countless smaller creatures resembling nautiluses appeared one after another.
The first to appear was the largest of them all, as tall as a small mountain.
The rest were much smaller by comparison, but still comparable in size to humans.
Black tentacles emerged from their rock-hard spiral shells, glistening with strange mucus in the light of the headlamps as they writhed and coiled.
They made no sound. Perhaps they had no vocal organs, or perhaps they had no need to make a sound.
In any case, they surged toward everyone like a dark tide.
Everyone could tell that these nautiluses, large and small, meant trouble, so they all retaliated in their own way.
We can't summon Grudge Memory, Germann judged.
They were Nen Beasts, but they weren't clever enough to use Nen to keep themselves balanced like Germann and the others. They only followed their instincts, attacking the nearest enemy.
Then we'll just have to rely on ourselves.
Germann wielded the Sacred Moonlight Greatsword in both hands and slashed at a small nautilus closing in on him.
With a crack, its shell broke easily.
One more slash split its soft body in two, sending it tumbling into the depths of Dark Space.
Elite Grade.
Germann made the precise judgment based on his experience cutting down countless Elite Grades.
Then his gaze was drawn to the gigantic nautilus.
Generally speaking, it was the largest nautilus here, so it should be their leader—and the strongest among them.
Germann could indeed sense a trace of an aura on its mottled gray-black shell that was on his own level.
If so, then the largest nautilus should be the first target he dealt with.
"I'll take